Many who have left the travel industry often end up back in the industry because they love its ever-changing nature, the people and the dynamics.Filip Filipov, a former vice president of Skyscanner, left travel more than four years ago, and is now back as chief operations officer of airline data specialist OAG.He joined us in the PhocusWire studio during The Phocuswright Conference in November to discuss what he has observed about the industry from the outside looking in.New LinkFilipov spoke about how some of the same challenges persist as well as the pace of innovation generally.He went on to discuss the "paradigm shift in the usage of data" that he is seeing and how projects that were being talked about five years ago are now happening.Filipov also said he's watching to see how improved access to, and usage of, data will be applied to the travel B2C and B2B worlds going forward, especially as AI developments take hold.He also touched on AI agents in travel and said he doesn't believe they will proliferate that quickly."The missing component here is nailing the customer journey and having enough data to actually power it. The more information you have the better the experience you will give."Watch the full interview below.Executive Interview: An outside perspective on travelVIDEO

OAG, a premier data analytics firm in the global travel sector, recently revealed the appointment of Shane Corstorphine, a former Skyscanner executive, as a non-executive director.